


Like Rollin' Dice

by usernicole



Category: One Direction, Radio 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, minor zarry?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-06
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-02-28 08:51:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2726240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/usernicole/pseuds/usernicole
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn and Louis make a bet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like Rollin' Dice

**Author's Note:**

> hiya!!! this fic is based off of a photoset that i cannot link in fear of revealing who i am, so i'll just say it's a dude saying "Oh yeah, I'm gonna be your friend. Just to spite you."
> 
> this fic would not be possible without the support and cheerleading of J and N. ilu guys ur the best and i'll credit u as soon as i can!!
> 
> the song Liv and Nick sing in this fic is (in case u didn't already know) [push it by salt-n-pepa](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCadcBR95oU)
> 
> i listened to it basically nonstop writing this fic, so that should give u a good example of the mindset i was in writing it
> 
> this fic is super super ridiculous i hope u enjoy it!!

“Fucking Grimshaw,” Louis mutters, smacking the egg in his hand too hard onto the tabletop in front of him. Standing next to him, Zayn curses, moving quickly out of the way of the splattering yolk.

“Jesus, Lou,” he says, making sure none of it has gotten on his precious leather jacket. “Watch what you’re doing.”

“He thinks he’s so fucking cool,” Louis continues, ignoring Zayn and cracking the egg into a bowl. He gets about as much egg shell in as he does actual egg, but he doesn’t seem to notice. He reaches for another egg, eyes still focused to the front of the classroom, where Nick is standing, chatting to their teacher.

Nick catches Louis’ eye and makes a face at him, and Louis’ glare darkens. Zayn slips his arm around Louis to grab the bowl, delicately picking the shell out of what is meant to be cake batter. Louis bashes the egg on the counter, only this time it’s completely smashed and unsalvageable. He looks down at it, shrugs, and then goes back to glaring at Nick.

“I dunno,” Zayn says noncommittally, shrugging. “If I knew the teacher I would want to like, take advantage, yeah?” Louis just scoffs, grabbing the bowl from Zayn and then a whisk. Zayn preemptively moves out of the way as Louis starts to viciously whisk, cake batter flying every which way.

“Whatever, I don’t care about him,” Louis says, veritably beating the shit out of their cake batter. Two tables away, Zayn can see Niall and Liam staring desolately into their mixing bowl, occasionally poking at it with a spoon. At least they’re not doing _that_ badly.

“Right, Lou. Keep telling yourself that,” Zayn mutters. He clears away a section of their tabletop and hops up to sit, kicking his legs.

“Just look!” Louis says indignantly. “Look at poor Harry! That asshole left him to do all the work!”

Zayn looks at Harry, happily placing his cake pan in one of the class ovens. He’s wearing oven mitts and chatting happily with Daisy. “He doesn’t seem to mind all that much,” Zayn says. He watches Harry set the timer for his cake, before turning around and leaning back against his table, arms behind his back and dimples on full display. Zayn frowns. That’s Harry’s flirting face.

“Harry’s too nice,” Louis snaps. “And what did you mean, ‘keep telling myself that’?”

Zayn shrugs, turning back and telling himself that he doesn’t care either way if Harry is flirting with Daisy or not. “Just like, you say you don’t care but like, you never really shut up about the guy.”

Louis roughly grabs their cake pan and furiously upends their mixing bowl into it. He doesn’t pour it, he just flips the bowl over and lets the mixture drop into it all at once. Or well, mostly into it. “I _do not_.”

“You do.”

“ _Do-_ ” Louis snaps his mouth shut, visibly composing himself. “It’s not _my fault_ he’s in all of my classes and he’s annoying in every one of them. He’s basically _stalking me_.”

Zayn just shrugs again, looking back to where Harry’s apparently telling one of his long-winded stories to Daisy, gesticulating wildly and making her laugh. He turns away sharply. “Are you sure, like, you’re not stalking _him_?”

Louis just gives him a look of greatly over-exaggerated betrayal and disbelief. “What the fuck are you talking about?” he asks, voice squeaky and too loud. Niall and Liam look over at them from where they were trying valiantly to scrape their mysterious concoction out of the mixing bowl and into the pan. Zayn looks back at them and rolls his eyes, nodding his head at Louis. They go back to scraping.

“It was nothing, forget it,” Zayn says before pushing himself off the table and grabbing the cake pan. The batter is lumpy and entirely the wrong color, but it will have to do. His grade is good enough in this class that he can handle one bad mark.

“No,” Louis says, following him to the oven. “I want to know what you mean.” Zayn goes about making sure they complete their home economics assignment without responding, Louis following after him like an extremely annoying, paranoid duckling. Once Zayn’s finished setting the timer, Louis is literally breathing right into Zayn’s ear, chin hooked over one shoulder, and Zayn shoves him off.

“All I’m saying,” Zayn sighs, “is that you pay a lot of fucking attention to a dude you don’t even like, Tommo.”

“Because he’s always around!” Louis yells, throwing his arms up in the air. “I never have a moment’s peace with that dickbag showing up everywhere I go! Sometimes I imagine how nice it would be if someone would just shoot me into space, just for a little time without Nick fucking Grimshaw breathing down my neck. But then he’d probably be there sitting on the moon with his stupid gravity-defying hair like ‘Oh hi, Tomlinson, didn’t you know the new thing was hanging out in space? It really improves vinyl sound quality!’”

“Is his hair gravity-defying because, like, he’s in space? Or were you just making an observation?”

“ _Not the point_ ,” Louis says, grabbing another egg from their carton and smashing it for no reason. Zayn raises an eyebrow at him. “You couldn’t _pay me_ to willingly spend time with Nick Grimshaw.”

“Okay,” Zayn says, crossing his arms. “What if I did, though?”

Louis freezes, eyes narrowing. “What are you saying?”

“What if I paid you to hang out with Nick Grimshaw?” Louis just gives him an incredulous look.

“Why the fuck would you do that?” Louis says, suspicious. Zayn just shrugs and shoves his hands in his jacket pockets.

“Maybe if you actually talked to him you could get over this weird crush you’ve got.” Louis makes a protesting noise. “Also, I’m bored, and it would be funny as shit.”

“I actually _just_ told you I wouldn’t do it even if someone paid me.”

“You _won’t_ do it, or you _can’t_ do it?” Louis levels a glare at Zayn, who does his best to look completely disinterested. The thing about Zayn’s friends is that he loves them, he really does. He would go through fire and water for his boys, and they for him, but they just make it _too easy sometimes_.

“Fuck off,” Louis says. “I _won’t_ do it.”

“You probably can’t even _talk_ to Nick Grimshaw without making an ass of yourself,” Zayn says. “I’d bet anything.”

Louis bristles, and Zayn stops himself from grinning victoriously by inspecting his nails, the very picture of passivity. “I could do it,” Louis says, frowning. “What are you offering?”

Zayn hums thoughtfully. “I’ll do your English Lit coursework for a week.” Louis brightens, but Zayn interrupts him. “ _Only if_ you manage to spend the entire day with him, without breaking everything, or fighting. You’ve got to be civil with Nick Grimshaw for an entire day, and _then_ I’ll do your coursework. Deal?”

Louis looks unsure, glancing back and forth between Zayn and Nick, still at the front of the classroom but now happily sharing the now baked cake with Harry. Zayn looks just in time to see Harry lift a forkful up to Daisy’s mouth, before turning back and focusing entirely on Louis and their impending bet. “You’ll do it properly, right?” Louis asks. “You’re not just going to copy your own work and hand it in?”

Zayn rolls his eyes. “If I did that I would fail too,” he says. “So are we agreed? Is it a bet?”

Louis looks weary, but he shakes Zayn’s hand anyway. “We’ve got to set some rules, though,” he says. “How many straight hours are we talking?”

Zayn just grins.

 

**ATTEMPT #1: JUST SORT OF, TALK TO HIM, I GUESS.**

 

“So,” Louis says, sitting heavily in the desk next to Nick’s in their shared history class. “How’s things?”

Nick looks up from where he’d been rooting around in his rucksack and freezes, then he recoils, pulling his impossibly long spider legs up onto his chair, as far away as he can get from Louis without tipping his desk over. Louis rolls his eyes.

“I wasn’t joking,” Nick says, “I _will_ get that restraining order.”

Louis rolls his eyes and stops himself from making a biting comment. Zayn had said, specifically, that Louis had to spend at least five consecutive hours with Nick, and school doesn’t count. So if Louis was going to get Nick to spend any amount of time with him outside of school, he was going to have to play nice. “Very funny, Grimmy.” They both pause to wince. “Just trying to make conversation.”

Nick slowly unfurls himself, spreading his legs across the aisle towards Louis and looking at him suspiciously. “What do you want?” Nick asks tersely.

Louis looks at him with wide eyes. “Do I need a _reason_ to chat with a mate?”

“You and I have never, ever, _ever_ , in any lifetime, been anything near mates, mate,” Nick says. “You nearly _killed me_ once.”

Louis stops himself from rolling his eyes again. He swears, you get a guy stuck in a tree _once_. “Maybe I’m turning over a new leaf,” Louis says, “changing my ways.”

Nick looks at him, and it’s the wrong time for Louis to notice that his eyelashes are really very long, his eyes very wide and sort of pretty, and then Nick starts laughing. He laughs so hard he nearly falls over, clapping his giant hands and wheezing so hard that he has to bend forward and dig his inhaler out of his bag. Louis frowns and looks away, feeling his cheeks heat up. The idea isn’t _that_ funny. Louis can actually be a pretty nice guy.

“Pull the other one, mate,” Nick says, after he’s calmed down and had a few puffs of his inhaler. “I’m not buying it.” And then their teacher silences them, getting ready for class to start, and Louis’ back to square one.

God damn Zayn and his impossible bets. This is going to be harder than he anticipated.

 

**ATTEMPT #35: DESPERATION**

 

“Maybe you should, like, find him somewhere he’s goes that’s like, outside of school?” Liam says in the cafeteria a few days later, rubbing Louis’ back where he’s slumped over their table, completely at a loss to how he’s supposed to get Nick Grimshaw to spend time with him enough to win the bet.

“Two weeks,” Zayn had said in home economics the week before. “You have two weeks to do it, starting next week, or I win and you have to pay up.” And it was a reasonable time frame, had Louis not gotten cocky and agreed to a nearly impossible forfeit.

His stepdad’s car. Or at least, a drive in his stepdad’s brand new mustang. Zayn wanted to borrow it to drive himself and Harry to the Arctic Monkeys concert Harry had tickets for next weekend. Louis has no clue what the car is supposed to change, or how he’s meant to get Dan to agree to his friend borrowing it. In other words: Louis is screwed.

And now he’s wasted both entire school weeks, unable to get Nick to spend any amount of time with him, or even to talk to him most of the time. Most of the time Nick just ignores him, but there have been a couple occasions where Nick had straight up laughed in his face. It was honestly impossible, especially with only two days left.

Louis makes an unintelligible noise into the table, and Liam pats his head kindly. Niall, across the table from them, just laughs.

“Grimmy’ll really think he needs that restraining order if Lou did that,” he says, shoving a handful of crisps into his mouth. “Do we even know what he does outside of school?”

“Probably like, kicks puppies,” Louis says, voice muffled by the table. “Crushes childhood dreams.”

“He works at the video rental store,” Harry says, mouth full of banana, and they all freeze. Harry blinks. “I didn’t say that.”

“The video store? In the mall?” Louis asks, picking his head up from the table. “When’s his shift? How long is it?”

“It doesn’t count if you’re just hanging out with him while he’s working,” Zayn chimes from where he’s sat next to Harry. “He can’t escape then.” Louis frowns at him.

“Well maybe that’s the best place to _convince_ him to spend time with me, then,” Louis says, before turning back to Harry. “So? What shift?”

“I shouldn’t have said anything,” Harry says, slumping over the table, long hair hiding his face. “I didn’t say anything. I know nothing.” Zayn pats his back loyally.

“Look, you’re the best source of information I _have_ ,” Louis says. “If you don’t tell me, I’m just going to have to stake out the video store until he comes in, and _who knows_ what would happen then.”

Harry sighs and pushes himself upright again. “He’s working tomorrow until noon,” he says sadly. “Don’t bother him at work though, Louis. He hates his job enough.”

“Of course not,” Louis says. “I’ve just decided I want to rent a movie. For the girls and Ernie. From the video store in the mall.”

Harry groans, dropping his head back down to the table, and Zayn coos, rubbing his back soothingly. Niall laughs, and Liam and Louis spend the rest of their lunch period throwing trash at Harry’s head, Zayn valiantly trying to shield him.

 

 

The next day, Louis saunters confidently through the mall’s entrance at 11:00 am on the dot, dressed in an outfit Lottie had described as “business casual,” and ready to get down to some casual business.

It doesn’t take long for Louis to reach the video store, but he finds himself unable to go in just yet, standing behind a large potted plant sat across from it. He knows people are giving him strange looks, but he doesn’t care. He can see Nick standing behind the cash register of the store, smiling politely at his customers. Louis wonders if those people know Netflix exists, or if they actually enjoyed the tedious, dated process of renting videos. Actually, Louis spares a moment to wonder how the place is even still in business, if it’s been sucked into some weird gap in space-time, ageless and mystifying.

He glares through the leaves of the potted plant, mouth twisting. He bets that’s part of the appeal for Nick, the uselessness of the place, if it gives him hipster cred. Louis knows Nick sometimes does the most ridiculous things for hipster cred, like wear Justin Bieber t-shirts in public, and wear shoes that could best be described as “jarring.”

An old lady exits the store, bag full of DVDs, and Louis calls out “ _It’s 2014!_ ” before ducking behind the plant again. The lady takes no notice and just continues on her way, but Louis thinks he’s given her something to think about.

Now there’s no one in the store aside from Nick, and it’s the perfect time for Louis to make his move, but he’s still stuck behind that plant. He’s not sure why this is different from coming up to talk to Nick at school, but it is, somehow. He watches Nick fiddle with his hair, running his fingers through it and making sure it’s standing straight, and doesn’t move from the plant.

He should have never accepted this bet, as it’s clear his Nick Grimshaw-related issues run deeper than he thought. He’s never told anyone the story of _why_ exactly Louis likes to spend his spare time denouncing Nick’s existence and planning the next time he can strategically place a live frog in nick’s rucksack, but it’s not something he really likes thinking about, if he’s honest.

Nick and Louis, weird as the thought is, go way back. Back to primary school, when Louis had first started and Nick was held back into Louis’ class. Louis remembers the first day of school, when he first saw Nick, skinny and already taller than most of the class, and _so cool_ because he already knew how everything went. His hair wasn’t high then, and it sat all over the place, curly as anything, and Louis remembers, with bone-deep mortification, deciding then and there that he was in love.

It’s Louis’ deepest, darkest secret, that his first crush was the guy he loudly proclaims to hate. He’s over it, of course. Completely over it. He has approximately zero feelings for Nick Grimshaw, or his hair, or his legs, or his face. But all the same, he still has his memories, and they’re absolutely mortifying.

He’d been so embarrassing about it, telling his mum that he’d met his future husband that very first day (she had not quite expected _that_ when she picked him up after school, but she’d rolled with it. She’s good like that.), and immediately began devising various schemes to Win Nick Grimshaw’s Heart. He was five at the time, so his methods went along the lines of this:

  1. The next day, Louis walked up to Nick and gave him a handful of sand.

  2. Then he pushed Nick over.

  3. He would then deliberately pick fights with Nick by disagreeing with everything Nick said. For example, if their teacher, Ms. Simmons, asked Nick what letter “apple” started with, and Nick said “A,” Louis would yell “No it’s not!” from the back of the classroom. He did this every time Nick said anything.

  4. The dreaded Valentine’s Day Incident.




This incident is what keeps Louis up at night, it’s his greatest regret. The worst moment of his life thus far.

Back then, Valentine’s Day was, of course, a class-wide event. The whole class would bring in a Valentine for each of their classmates and they would have a big party. Louis, even at that age, thought that was bullshit.

Why should he have to give anything to the people he didn’t care about, or even disliked? Why should he give anything to Harry Styles, who was a big baby and cried every time his mum dropped him off? Or Liam Payne, who always told Ms. Simmons whenever Louis was about to do something even _remotely_ fun? Why should he give Zayn Malik anything when all Zayn ever did was sleep and ignore all of Louis’ jokes?

As far as Louis was concerned, the only ones who deserved a Valentine in his class were Niall, who did everything Louis told him to, and Nick who was the love of Louis’ life.

So, in the end, Louis had taken the pack of Pokemon Valentine’s cards and only pulled out two. One, a plain one with Bulbasaur that said “I hope our friendship blooms!” for Niall on which he wrote “TO: NIALL. YOU ARE OK. LOUIS.” and the biggest one in the pack, a huge, elaborate portrait of Pikachu surrounded by pokeballs that said “I Choose You!”

Louis spent a whole twenty minutes deliberating over what he should write in it, until he gave up and asked his mum. “Oh,” Jay said, biting her lip to keep from laughing at the serious look her son’s face. “I don’t know, write a poem, maybe?”

Louis, who knew next to nothing about writing poems, agreed that yes, a poem did seem to be the appropriate action, and set off to write it. After much thought, this is what Louis came up with:

“ROSES ARE RED.

VIOLETS ARE BLUE.

IT’S COOL THAT YOU HAVE STUPID HAIR”

A masterpiece. Louis made sure to punctuate his statement by sticking every sticker in the Valentine pack onto it.

The next day, Louis was practically vibrating with excitement. He’d hardly slept, thinking of giving his Valentine to Nick, and how Nick would respond. Louis reckoned he would probably propose marriage on the spot. So, of course, by the time their Valentine’s party rolled around, Louis had been a menace, getting in more trouble than usual. Ms. Simmons threatened to make Louis sit out on the party, but Louis had pleaded with her until, eventually, he was forced to whisper his plans into her ear so she knew exactly why he couldn’t miss the party.

The party was in full swing by the time Louis finally pulled his card out. He’d given Niall his first thing, not really caring about it, and Niall had hugged him so hard in response that Louis thought his eyeballs would pop out.

Nick’s desk was far from Louis’, up near the front, and Louis hadn’t ever felt so nervous in his life walking to it. Nick already had a pile of Valentine’s cards on his desk, but Louis was confident that his would knock them all out of the park. He knew Nick had brought in shiny cards with the Backstreet Boys on them. Louis had already carefully tucked the one Nick had dumped on Louis’ desk onto his front pocket, even though it only said “From: Nick” in it instead of a poem.

When Louis finally made it to Nick’s desk, Nick was sitting in his chair, chatting happily with what seemed like every girl in the class gathered around him. Louis cleared his throat, but Nick didn’t hear him, continuing to talk. Louis could have just dropped his card on the desk like everyone else had, but his card was special. He had to give it to Nick personally. Louis cleared his throat again and then, impatient, loudly yelled “ _Hey!”_ and all the girls and Nick turned to look at Louis.

Louis quickly pulled the Valentine from behind his back and presented it proudly to Nick. “Here,” he said.

Nick took it, half-heartedly glancing at it, before throwing it in the pile with the others. “Thanks,” he said, before turning my back to talk to the girls.

Louis stood frozen for a moment, before turning and walking back to his own desk, slumping into his chair and dropping his head onto his arms. Niall came over to try and give Louis one of the Valentine’s cookies his mum made, but Louis wouldn’t even look up, so Niall just sat next to him and every so often leaned over to pat Louis on the head.

For the whole party, people came over and tried to talk to Louis, but he ignored them. Harry Styles came over and dumped a pile of glitter onto the desk in front of Louis, then teared up when Louis didn’t acknowledge it. Liam Payne came over and tentatively asked if Louis was okay, and just quietly walked away when Louis didn’t say anything. Even Zayn Malik showed up, sliding a card he’d made himself over to Louis. He’d drawn a Power Ranger on it, but wasn’t even enough to pull Louis out of his funk.

Eventually, the party ended and it was time to go home, and Ms. Simmons came over to Louis. “It’ll be okay,” she said, petting Louis’ hair. Even Niall had left, giving Louis one last pat and telling him that he’d loved _his_ card. “I’m sure he liked it.”

Louis didn’t say anything, just got up and grabbed his stuff. His mum, upon seeing his face, decided it was best not to ask how his poem went. The next day, Louis filled Nick’s pencil box with glue, and vowed to hate him forever.

It’s obvious that Louis’ realized that his methods of wooing Nick were both ridiculous and counterproductive, but Louis being apprehensive about spending time alone with Nick is understandable. That’s one of those memories that Louis will always cringe at the thought of. Childhood heartbreak is forever.

But, when Louis checks his phone and realizes he’s been standing behind a plant for nearly thirty minutes, he sucks it up and steps out from his hiding place, making his way over to Nick’s store.

When he walks in, there’s an awful dinging sound, and Louis freezes. Nick looks up from where he was staring at his phone and narrows his eyes at Louis, instantly suspicious. Louis clasps his hands behind his back, takes a deep breath, and heads towards the romantic comedy section.

Once there, he really starts to panic. He hadn’t quite figured this part yet, what he’d actually _say_ to Nick at his place of work. Should he play it cool and rent a movie? Would Nick judge him based on his movie choice? What kind of movies does Nick _like_? Probably like, sad indie movies where everyone dies and the soundtrack is just whale noises. Louis’ not sure if there’s actually any movies like that, but he’s sure if there were Nick would like them.

Louis grabs _Footloose_.

By the time Louis’ made his decision, more people have entered the store and he has to wait in line. The extra time waiting is just enough for Louis to question all of his life choices. He spends so long intensely scrutinizing Kevin Bacon’s face on the cover of the DVD that he doesn’t notice the line’s moved without him until he hears someone clearing their throat.

When he looks up, the only other person in the store is Nick. “Um,” Louis says, and Nick raises an eyebrow at him. Louis wordlessly steps up to the counter and hands over the copy of _Footloose_.

“Did Harry tell you I work here?” Nick demands, and Louis just shrugs. Nick clutches the DVD to his chest.

“It’s a good movie,” Louis says, and Nick looks at him disbelievingly.

“You’re telling me that you’re really just here because you had the urge to rent a movie? In 2014?”

“Yes.”

Nick sets the DVD facedown on the counter and covers his face with his hands.

“I wanted to rent the 1984 classic _Footloose_ starring Kevin Bacon and Sarah Jessica Parker,” Louis says. He spent a long time reading the back of the DVD case. “Is that so hard to believe?”

“Why are you dressed like that?”

“Excuse me, I’m _business casual_. Why are _you_ dressed like that?”

“I’m wearing a uniform!” Nick yells, and the bell by the door goes. They glare at the poor guy who enters until he leaves.

“Are you going to ring me up, or what?” Louis asks, putting his hands on his hips.

“No! because you obviously aren’t here to rent a movie!” Nick snaps, but he does it anyway, pressing the buttons and throwing the movie into a plastic bag with much more force than Louis thinks is appropriate.

They go through the motions in silence, and Nick holds the bag out to him expectantly. Louis stares at it, alarms going off in his mind.

“Well?” Nick asks, shaking the bag a little.

“Do you like that movie?” Louis blurts out. “ _Footloose_?”

“No, I hate movies,” Nick says. “There you go. Thank you, have a nice day.”

“You work at a _video store_.”

Nick huffs and drops his arm. “I _know_. It’s like ironic, or something. What do you want?”

“Ironic,” Louis says, wrinkling his nose. “Of _course_.”

“Why are you here?” Nick asks pleadingly, and they go silent again. Louis looks everywhere but at Nick.

“So, you don’t like _any_ movies?” Louis asks after a moment.

“Oh my god,” Nick says. “Are you just going to, what? Stay here and follow me wherever I go?”

 

**ATTEMPT #36: FOLLOW HIM WHEREVER HE GOES**

 

“For the love of god, please stop touching everything,” Nick pleads, hands out towards where Louis has assembled a castle of DVDs. “I get off in like, _five minutes_.”

“Well, why didn’t you tell me that _before_ I built _Casa de Tommo_?” Louis says, before shoving the entire (rather impressive, actually) construction over. Nick winces at the crash.

“You’re picking that up,” Nick says, and Louis actually laughs.

“Just leave it for the next guy,” Louis says. “I bet he’s an asshole.”

“Matt’s alright, he’s just weirdly obsessed with Bond films,” Nick says, but Louis thinks it’s telling of what he _actually_ thinks of Matt when he doesn’t move to pick up Louis’ mess. Nick sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Alright, wait here, I guess. I’m going to get my stuff and let my boss know I’m leaving.”

“Your boss has been here this entire time?” Louis asks, but Nick is already on his way to the back of the store, calling for someone called Ben. Louis looks down at the mess he’s made and feels a pang of guilt, so he sets to kicking all the DVDs into a corner.

When Nick gets back and sees the floor clear he looks surprised. “You cleaned up?” he asks, incredulous.

“‘Course I did,” Louis says. “So, where are we going now?”

Nick narrows his eyes at Louis. “You’re _actually_ going to follow me around all day, aren’t you?”

“Uh, isn’t that what I said?”

“No, that’s what _I_ said. I just didn’t expect you to actually do it.” Nick sighs. “Whatever, come on.”

“So what are your plans? Got any urgent business to attend to? Me, I’m free. Nothing at all going on. Especially not until, like, five o’clock. Five whole hours free.”

“Right,” Nick says, looking at Louis like he’s crazy. “I was just going to like, shop around a bit.”

“Okay, for what?”

Nick gives him a look. “I want to shop for...scarves,” he says. “Expensive scarves.”

Louis forces himself not to make a face. “Right. Scarves are good. Can’t have too many fancy scarves.”

“And,” Nick says, “flannel shirts. Lots of flannel shirts.”

“Okay,” Louis says, cursing Zayn in his head.

“And a satchel. A leather satchel, for my many leatherbound books.”

“You’re fucking with me,” Louis says accusingly, and Nick starts laughing. “What the fuck!”

“Sorry, it’s too easy,” Nick says. “I’ve got to buy a shirt for this posh dinner party my mum’s having tonight.”

“You could have just _said_ that,” Louis mutters, following Nick into Topman, and then into several other stores. They waste an hour like that, going through the sales racks of every store, Nick pulling out increasingly outrageous printed shirts for Louis to shut down.

“No, look,” Nick says, holding a ridiculous cheetah printed shirt up to his chest. “I’ve got these shoes that match.”

“Oh, god,” Louis says. “What kind of dinner party is your mum throwing? You need something _respectful_.”

“Okay, Mr. Business Casual. What do _you_ think I should wear?”

In the end they settle for a nice black button-up, even though Louis knows Nick’s going to unbutton it down to his belly button before the party. “Now I know where Harry got it,” Louis says. “He’s always got a cold because he never does up his shirts right.”

“You’re such a mum,” Nick says. “How come no one talks about how you’re a mum?”

“I’m not a _mum_ ,” Louis says, scandalized.

“You’re _such_ a mum,” Nick says. “ _You need to wear something respectful_.”

“First, I don’t sound like that,” Louis says. “Second, it’s not my fault my mum raised me right.”

“What, are you saying I’m a bad son?”

“I’m _saying_ I would never show up to a dinner my mum was having wearing neon green.”

“That shirt was _amazing_ ,” Nick says. “You’ve got to be fashion-forward, Louis. It’s 2014.”

Louis groans, and Nick laughs, and they exit the mall. Louis blinks in the sunlight, shielding his eyes, and Nick stops expectantly next to him.

“Well, where to next?” Louis says, and Nick gapes at him.

“You’re seriously not leaving yet?” Nick says, and Louis shakes his head, grinning cheekily. Nick pouts. “Fine, I guess. You’re going to have to get tired of me eventually.”

“Nope, never,” Louis says, clasping his hands behind his back. Nick sighs.

“Alright, only here’s the thing: I rode my bike to work.”

 

 

“I’m going to die.”

“You’re not going to _die,_ ” Nick says, rolling his eyes and pushing the bike forward, Louis perched precariously on the front handlebars. “I do this all the time with my friends.”

“We’re not friends,” Louis says, “you won’t be as careful with me.”

“Who says we’re not friends?” Nick says easily, turning sharply and prompting Louis to grip even tighter at the handlebars under him. “You just spent an hour shopping with me. I’d say that makes us friends.”

“I like, forced you to spend time with me,” Louis says, rolling his eyes. “How do you get ‘Let’s Be Friends’ out of that?”

Nick shrugs and adjusts his grip on the handlebars. “I don’t like being alone, I appreciated the company, even though you just bitched the entire time.”

“I did _not_.”

“You _so_ did,” Nick says, and he takes another turn, this time into a park.

“Where the hell are we going?” Louis says, as Nick takes them steadily through the park.

“I don’t want to go home yet,” Nick says. “It’s a nice day.”

“What are we supposed to do at a _park_? Do you have a football or something?”

“‘Course not. Gross. I just thought we’d like, hang out a bit.”

“ _Right_ ,” Louis says, and frowns. “Hey, I don’t know if you noticed, but we’re headed straight for that tree.”

“ _Shit_ ,” Nick says, turning sharply, and they go tumbling sideways into the grass.

“I told you!” Louis wheezes, air punched out of him. “I said you’d kill me, and look at me now.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Nick says, wincing as he pulls himself up and untangles himself from Louis. “You’re not dying.”

Louis sits up, rubbing at his elbow. there’s a hole in his sweater. “Look at this,” he says. “You’ve ruined my business casual outfit. It’s just casual now.”

“Oh boohoo,” Nick says, and stands. He lifts his bike and leans it against the tree they’d almost crashed into, then sits heavily in front of it. Louis pulls himself up and sits next to him, huffing.

“I’m already bored,” Louis says. “You could at least have brought a football or something.”

“Yes, because I plan my whole day around you,” Nick says. “I’ve got better things to do, Tomlinson. Those movies aren’t going to rent themselves.”

“I’m surprised those movies are renting _at all_ ,” Louis says. “I can’t believe that store is still in business.”

“All the customers are over eighty years old,” Nick says. “One time this lady wanted a movie that we didn’t have, so I told her to check Netflix and she nearly slapped me. I don’t know what she thought Netflix was, but I’ve never mentioned it again.”

Louis laughs. “You probably deserved it, you kids with your netflixes and facebooks.” He scrunches his nose at Nick. “Riff raff, the lot of you.”

“Shut up, you’re a mum,” Nick says, and they both laugh again. “But no, really, I don’t know how it’s still in business, but I bet it has to do with like, the mafia.”

“The _mafia?_ ”

“Yeah like, isn’t the mafia always using stores as fronts for like, their illegal business? I saw that on television once. I bet you Big Boss Ben Cooper uses that back room as an interrogation room for the people who owe him money.”

Louis sits back and looks disbelievingly at Nick. “You’re so weird,” Louis says, shaking his head. “How are you so popular at school, when you’re so weird?”

Nick snorts. “I’m not _popular_. Who says things like _popular_ these days, anyway?”

“I do,” Louis says. “And you _are_.”

“I’m not popular, I just never shut up.” Nick lies back in the grass, lifting his arms up to rest his head on, so Louis does the same. “If you keep talking, people are going to think you’ve got something interesting to say eventually, so they keep listening. I just never stop talking.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Louis says. “Harry’s just as popular as you are, and it’s impossible to listen to him talk for more than five minutes.”

Nick rolls his eyes. “That’s _Harry_. He’s got like.” Nick waves his hand around his face, pouting. “He’s got like, that _face_.”

Louis considers it, then nods. “Yeah, but like, so does _Zayn_ , and he’s not popular.”

“I think that’s more of a personal decision,” Nick says. “And it adds to the allure. He’s the quiet, intelligent guy. He’s _deep_.”

“Once he got really high and cried because he couldn’t adopt all the dogs and cats in the animal shelter.”

“I never said that’s how he _actually_ is, just how people _see_ him,” Nick says. “And that’s adorable. Him and Harry were made for each other.”

Louis rolls his eyes. “I _know_ , it’s awful. Zayn’s never going to make a move, and Harry has no idea Zayn likes him. Some day, I’m just going to lock them both in a closet and let them have at it.”

“I’ll help you,” Nick says. “If I can be in the closet with them. With a camera.”

“You fucking pervert.”

“I would be doing the world a service!” Nick says. “If that sex tape happened, it would be the end of all other sex tapes ever. No one would be able to match it. Anyone that tried would turn to dust.” He made an exploding motion with his hand. “Poof. Like that.”

“It’d be like _Indiana Jones_ ,” Louis says. “ _Raiders of the Lost Ark_. Anyone who watched it would be turned into a skeleton. That’s too much power.”

“I don’t watch movies,” Nick says, “but that sounds about right. Maybe we’re not yet ready for a Zarry Stylik sex tape.”

“Zarry Stylik _?_ ” Louis says, loudly. “ _Zarry Stylik?_ ”

“What else would you call them? Hayn Myles? That sounds awful.”

“Maybe just call them by their names.”

“Nope, boring,” Nick says, and then he spots something in the distance and sits up. “Oh my god, ice cream.”

Louis sits up then, as well. “Nick,” he says, nudging Nick with his elbow. “Get some.”

“Why should I be the one who gets it?” Nick says, glaring over at Louis.

“Who’s the one with the job? That’s right, not me,” Louis says. “I’ll pay you back some other time, moneybags. Now get me chocolate.”

Nick huffs, but he stands anyway, walking towards the ice cream cart a little ways away. Louis uses this opportunity to call Zayn.

“Louis, it is before two on the weekend. You know the rules,” Zayn says upon answering, voice murderous.

“Good afternoon to you too, Sleeping Beauty. You know I wouldn’t usually bother you on your weekly day of sleep, but guess who I’ve just spent the last two hours with?”

“I don’t care.”

“That’s right, Nick Grimshaw! And the clock is ticking, babe, so you better start sharpening your pencils, because you’re going to be doing all of my English assignments for next week.”

“I’m hanging up now.”

“Just wanted to keep you updated!” Louis says happily, but Zayn’s already hung up. Nick makes his way back, two ice cream cones balanced precariously in his hands. He sits back down next to Louis and hands Louis’ over, ignoring Louis’ frown.

“How come I’ve only got one scoop?” Louis says, watching as Nick licks a long stripe up his two scoops of mint chocolate chip.

“Freeloaders don’t get two scoops,” Nick says. “Sorry, those are the rules.”

“Asshole,” Louis mutters. They sit quiet for a few minutes, eating their ice cream, until Louis can’t take it anymore. “Oh my god, this is so boring.”

“It’s nice,” Nick says, but he doesn’t sound convincing.

“No it’s not, it’s boring,” Louis says, poking at Nick’s arm. “It’s _boring_. Nick, I’m bored.”

Nick sighs, staring desolately at his ice cream. “Yeah, it is. It’s shit. What do you want to do after we finish our ice cream?”

“I don’t know,” Louis says, “just not this.”

Nick sighs again, and takes a bite out of his cone. “I guess I should go home,” he says. “My mum’s probably going insane planning her party at home.”

Louis freezes, ice cream melting down his hand. “Would your mum be fine with me coming over?”

Nick looks at him. “You’re honestly going to stay with me, still?”

“If I can, I guess,” Louis says, heart sinking. He’s already working on how he’s going to get his stepdad’s car to Zayn in his head. Nick looks at him, shoving the last bit of ice cream cone in his mouth.

“I don’t see why not,” Nick says, standing up. “Come on, then.”

Louis quickly shoves the last of his own ice cream in his mouth before hopping up on Nick’s handlebars, licking the last of it off his hand. “That’s disgusting,” Nick says, and Louis just shrugs, before they’re off again.

It’s not a long ride to Nick’s house, and when they get there Nick, once again, fucks up their arrival and they end up sprawled over Nick’s front garden. They’re arguing about grass stains when Nick’s mum pokes her head out the front door.

“Grimmy!” she says sharply, “Where have you been? I am absolutely _overwhelmed_ with preparations for tonight, and you’re off doing God knows what.”

Nick looks sheepish, lifting his bike and walking it towards the back, and Louis stands awkwardly in the grass before walking up to Nick’s mum. “Sorry about that, Mrs. Grimshaw,” he says. “It was my fault, I distracted him after work.” He puts his hand out for her to shake, and she stares at it suspiciously before taking it. “Nice to meet you, ma’am. I’m Louis.”

“Grim’s never had you around before,” she says. “It’s a nice change, meeting a friend of Grimmy’s with manners. The other day he brought over that Styles boy, Harry. He’s lovely, but by the end of the night he broke three pieces of furniture. I’ve told Grimmy to warn me next time he’s going to come so I can hide all my valuables.”

Louis smiles politely at her, but inside he’s already thinking about how much shit he’s going to give Harry next he sees him. “I’ll make sure to keep my distance from anything breakable, Mrs. Grimshaw,” he says. “I’ve got six little siblings, so I know how that goes.”

“Such a big family!” Nick’s mum says. “That sounds lovely. We’ve got quite a big family ourselves, but most of my kids are grown and out the house already. Grimmy’s the baby of the family.” She keeps talking as she leads him inside the house, straightening things as she goes, and Louis nods politely, offering help only for her to wave him off. They round a corner, Nick’s mum (“Eileen, dear. Call me Eileen.”) rambling on about people who rsvp’d to her dinner party just yesterday, and how she’s going to have to make up for their presence by making more food, until there’s a ear-piercing scream, and something heavy lands on Louis’ back, knocking him to the ground.

“Oh dear,” Eileen says, hurrying back to Louis on the ground, whatever heavy thing that fell on him still there. Louis looks up from where his face was pushed into the carpet to see Nick walk in through the back door.

“Oh my god,” he says, before rushing over. “Liv, _no_.”

“I thought he was you!” says the thing that had landed on Louis. “It’s not my fault!”

“Maybe you just shouldn’t ambush people like that, then,” Nick says. Eileen helps Louis up, and Louis looks up to see Nick holding a little girl in his arms, both of them pouting ridiculously.

“Louis,” Eileen says, brushing off his shoulders. “This is Liv. Liv, this is Nick’s friend Louis.”

“I’m not sorry,” she says, and Louis laughs.

“It’s okay,” he says. “I’m used to it at home.”

“You’re used to children randomly attacking you?” Nick asks.

“Well, yeah,” Louis says. “One time my sister Felicite hid under my bed for hours, just to trip me when I came back. I wasn’t even mad, I was more impressed than anything.”

“A whole house full of Louis Tomlinsons,” Nick says with wonder, letting Liv down. “It sounds like my worst nightmares.”

“ _Nicholas_ ,” Eileen says, swatting Nick gently on the shoulder. Nick gives her a betrayed look.

“You have a sister?” Liv asks, and Louis nods and crouches down to be at her eye leve.

“Yup,” he says. “Loads, and a brother. I’m Louis, what does Liv stand for? Olive tree? Liverpool?”

Liv giggles, shaking her head. “It’s _Olivia_ ,” she says. “I don’t have any sisters or brothers. I’ve just got Grimmy.”

“And Grimmy is your?” Louis trials off, looking questioningly up at Nick.

“Uncle,” Nick says, rolling his eyes.

“When I said Grimmy was the baby, I really meant it,” Eileen says. Nick, beside her, cups his hands over his face and mouths ‘ _accident_.’ “Liv is Jane’s daughter. Jane’s the middle child.” She turns to Nick then. “Speaking of, I’m going to need Jane’s help doing the cooking so I’ll have time to get ready, so we’re going to need you to look after Livvy for a bit.”

“ _Mum_ ,” Nick says. “Isn’t she old enough to look after herself yet?”

“She’s _six_ , Nick,” Eileen says. “Of course she isn’t.”

“It’s no problem, Eileen,” Louis chimes in. “I’ll help look after her, I’m great with kids.” He’s decided, in the last five minutes, that it is absolutely imperative that Nick’s mum like him more than she likes Nick, and from the glare Nick sends he can tell that Nick knows this. “I’ve helped my mum with my younger siblings for as long as I can remember.”

“Oh, Louis, that would be _wonderful_ ,” Eileen gushes. “And of course we’d be happy to have you at dinner later, as well.”

“Mum, you almost banned _me_ from coming to this thing!”

“Well, unlike you, Louis here is _respectful_ ,” Eileen says. “Now, I’ve got to go back to getting things ready, and I’m going to need you to run down to the shop to pick a few things up, now that you’ve got Louis to help look after Liv. I’ll write up a list.” And with that, she disappears around a corner, still babbling to herself.

“ _What_ have you done with my mum?” Nick says, crossing his arms. Louis shrugs, smiling cheekily. Nick pugs his face in his hands and groans, and Louis laughs, poking at Nick’s face. He keeps poking and nearly sticks a finger in Nick’s eye until eventually a small slap fight breaks out.

“ _Excuse me_ ,” a loud voice interrupts, and they look down to see Liv glaring with her hands on her hips. Sometime in the last few minutes she’s changed outfits, going from a ratty t-shirt and shorts to a pretty floral print skirt and blouse. “If you knuckleheads would stop fooling around for five minutes, we’re supposed to go shopping.”

“We’re going for _groceries_ ,” Nick says.

“So?” Liv says. “Shopping’s shopping. Can we go yet?”

“Not until mum tells us what we have to get,” Nick says, and as if on cue, Eileen comes back around the corner, waving a piece of paper.

“You know, you could have just texted the list to me,” Nick says, and Eileen scoffs.

“You know I don’t _do_ that. Now remember,” Eileen launches into a detailed explanation of exactly what time of tomato Nick should buy, and Louis lets himself tune out, turning his focus back to Liv.

“You look very nice,” he says. “Do you like shopping?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Liv says, nodding furiously. “Sometimes Uncle Grimmy will buy me a candy.”

“How generous of him,” Louis says. “How old are you again? Twenty-one? Thirty-five?”

“No! I’m six and a half,” she says, laughing.

“Right,” Louis says. “I wasn’t too far off. My sister Fizzy is eight, and that’s not much older than you are. You’re older than all my other siblings, as well.”

“How many sisters do you _have_?” she says, wrinkling her nose.

“I have five sisters and a brother,” Louis says. “But the youngest are just babies.”

“That’s just _greedy_ ,” Liv huffs, crossing her arms. Louis laughs. “You don’t need that many. I don’t even have _one_.”

“Well, maybe one day you can come over and play with them. Take some of the load off of me.” Louis isn’t sure why he’s making tentative plans to see Nick’s niece again. He tells himself she probably won’t hold him to it. “And anyway, you have your uncle. Is he not fun enough?”

“He’s _very_ fun,” she says. “But he’s not the same as a _sister_.”

“I should hope not,” Nick interrupts then, grocery list in one hand and car keys in the other. “Let’s get going. I’m sure Louis wants to do something better than shopping.”

“That’s not true,” Louis says. “Liv and I _love_ shopping.”

“ _Exactly_ ,” Liv agrees, sliding her small hand into Louis’. “We _love_ it.”

When they get out to Nick’s dad’s car, Louis insists on helping buckle Liv in before sitting up front with Nick.

“You’re _such_ a mum,” Nick says. “That’s why my mum likes you so much. You’re just like her.”

“Oh, shut up,” Louis says. “And put on your seatbelt, don’t want to set a bad example for Liv.”

“Yeah, Grimmy,” Liv says from the back. Then, “Can you play our song?”

“ _Liv_ ,” Nick groans.

“Your _song_?” Louis asks gleefully. “You two have a _song_? Aw, Nick.”

“We’re not playing the song this time, Liv,” Nick says, ignoring Louis, and immediately both Louis and Liv start protesting. Nick groans again, dropping his head down onto the steering wheel before reaching over and grabbing the aux cord. He plugs it into his phone and a few seconds later a vaguely familiar beat flows from the speakers.

“Alright,” Nick says, making to pull out of the driveway, looking up into the rearview mirror, but before he can Liv yells out a protest.

“No, you’re not _doing_ it right,” she says, waving a tiny fist in the air.

“Liv, no,” Nick pleads, pausing the music. Louis moves between looking at both of them as their argument escalates, feeling more amused by the second.

“We can’t go if we don’t do it right!” Liv yells, and Nick huffs.

“Fine!” he snaps, hitting the heel of his palm against the steering wheel. Then he reaches over Louis’ lap to root around in the glove compartment. “None of this leaves this car,” he says, glaring at Louis, who just mimes zipping his mouth shut. “Louis, I _swear_.”

“I promise!” Louis says, knee bouncing in anticipation as Nick pulls out a matching set of sunglasses, one pair much smaller than the other. Louis already has to force himself to stop laughing.

Nick hands the smaller pair back to Liv, and they slip them on together, looking dead serious. Louis actually has to cover his mouth to stifle his giggles once Nick starts the music up again and Liv starts very earnestly bobbing her head to the beat.

“I don’t see why this is so bad,” Louis says over the person enthusiastically whispering “ _ahh psst push it_ ” in the song, but is cut off by Nick holding a hand up and backing the car out, beginning the drive to the store.

They continue much like that as the drive goes, Liv and Nick bobbing their heads with completely blank looks on their faces. Louis still thinks the song is familiar, but it’s not familiar enough to pinpoint what exactly it is.

“Alright, Liv,” Nick says, glancing back at Liv with a grin on his face like he can’t help it. “ _Salt-n-pepa’s here, and we’re in effect-”_

And then they’re off, both of them rapping very earnestly, and Louis can’t contain his laughter anymore. He bounces along with them as Liv takes it away, tiny voice yelling “ _push it good, push it real good!_ ”

They’ve got minor choreography, enough for Nick to be able to do while driving and Liv to do while strapped in her booster seat. Louis thinks ‘ _fuck it_ ’ and joins in on the dancing, making Nick laugh and miss his second verse. After that, Nick seems to completely drop any and all embarrassment, and Louis gets to see Liv and Nick’s usual driving routine in full, singing their way through a medley of nineties hip hop and R&B. Nick gets so into singing a Destiny’s Child song that Louis ends up laughing so hard that tears spring to his eyes.

When they make it to the store, Liv and Louis go wild, overly excited from the ride over. Nick manages to stop them from _actually_ getting them tossed out, but it’s a close thing. And it doesn’t stop Nick from racing Louis down the frozen foods aisle, shitty cart in front of him and Liv on Louis’ back. In the end, the trip takes much longer than they anticipated, between Liv and Louis begging for Nick to buy them every sweet they see and having to dodge the store’s manager, ducking around corners and running down aisles like they’re in an episode of _Scooby Doo_.

By the time they get back to Nick’s house, it’s four o’clock, but Louis doesn’t even think to check the time.

“ _Nicholas Peter Grimshaw_ ,” a shrill voice greets them upon opening the front door, Nick and Louis teetering under the weight of the many grocery bags in their arms. “ _Where_ have you been?”

“Uh,” Nick says, gulping. “Doing the shopping?”

“It took you _over an hour_ to pop down to the store?” Eileen yells, snatching the bags from Nick. She smiles over at Louis. “Oh, Louis! How kind of you to help Nick carry the things in.”

“ _What_?” Nick says, and Louis snorts. Behind Louis’ legs he can hear Liv giggling.

“ _Liv_ ,” someone else says, and Louis sees a woman he assumes is Nick’s sister Jane come down the front hallway. “We’ve got to go, we need to get ready!”

“I want to stay with Louis,” Liv says, emerging from behind Louis’ legs. Louis beams at her and she grins back. Nick huffs.

“Louis?” Jane says, seeming to see Louis for the first time. “Oh! Hello, thank you for watching her.”

“I was there too!” Nick says, but Jane just ignores her. Louis adjusts his grocery bags so he can shake her hand, but soon her and Liv have to leave, Liv protesting vehemently.

“I’ll see you later, Liv!” Louis calls back, before following Nick into the kitchen to drop off his groceries. Louis helps Eileen unpack them, Eileen glaring at Nick the entire time while he just cowers in a corner. As soon as they seem done, Nick drags Louis out of the kitchen by the wrist, eager to get out of the way of his mother.

Nick pulls him up the stairs, too quickly for Louis to really inspect the house or the pictures on the walls, and eventually stops in front of a door. “This is my room,” Nick says. “We should be safe here.”

“You mean _you_ should be safe here,” Louis snickers. “Eileen loves me. I’m _respectful_.”

Nick imitates Louis under his breath, muttering “ _respectful_ ” in a stupid high pitched voice. “Whatever, we can hang out here until the stupid party.”

Louis walks in then, and Nick’s room is both everything and nothing that Louis had expected. It’s surprisingly tidy, but not so much that it doesn’t look lived in. Nick’s desk is covered in battered CD cases and an equally battered laptop, and his bed is unmade. The walls, for the most part, are covered in artsy band posters and random magazine cutouts of celebrities. The wall behind Nick’s headboard has been painted with chalkboard paint and is dotted with messages and stupid doodles. Louis can pick out Harry’s handwriting from where he stands in the doorway.

“Whatever you’re about to say, I can bet I’ve heard it before,” Nick says, walking past to drop heavily onto his bed.

“You’ve got a picture of Zac Efron directly above your bed,” Louis says with wonder.

“He’s my guardian angel,” Nick says, flopping back to stare up at the _High School Musical_ poster. “Like a dreamcatcher or summat.”

“You’re so fucking weird,” Louis says, but he walks further into the room to flop into Nick’s rickety desk chair, kicking the door closed on the way.

“This is my personal sanctuary,” Nick says calmly, still staring at the poster, “I can be as weird as I want.”

Louis shrugs. “Fair enough,” he says. “So like, are you just bossed around by women 24/7? Or is it just today? Because, like, same.”

“No,” Nick says. “Sometimes my dad or my brother Andy are bossed around.” He sits up on his elbows so he can see Louis. “I’m usually left in charge of Liv, though.”

“You seem to do alright with her, though.” Louis stands up and turns the chair around before sitting back down, elbows over the back.

“She’s great,” Nick says. “It’s not like it’s _hard_.”

Louis rolls his eyes. “That’s just because she like worships the ground you walk on.”

“ _Someone_ in this family has to make sure she grows up with at least _some_ good taste,” Nick sniffs. “Without me, she’d end up like my dad, has no idea who Beyonce is and only cares about football.”

Louis rolls his eyes, resting his chin on his arms. “I had no idea you were so strange,” he says. “I’ve known you forever and somehow missed the fact that you’re a giant fucking nerd.”

“Well, to be fair,” Nick says, lying back again, “I think today is the first time I’ve ever talked to you without it ending in you like, dunking my face in mud or like, somehow filling my pockets with peanut butter.”

Louis sighs. “That was a good day.”

“For you!”

Louis laughs, and things go much the same for a while, Nick lying on his bed and Louis in Nick’s chair, bantering and laughing. Louis doesn’t think about what this means for his childhood vow of hatred, or about Zayn’s bet, just focuses on what Nick’s saying and how as time goes on Nick moves further and further from the boy Louis thought he was.

The sun starts to set, casting shadows across everything, and Louis finds himself admiring Nick in the fading light, hair mussed from lying on the bed and shirt rucked up slightly. He looks cozy, and nice, and like something Louis would be willing to kiss. And when Louis thinks it, doing his best to balance Nick’s desk chair on two legs, he finds himself tumbling over.

Nick cackles, scrambling up to see Louis sprawled on the carpet, looking dazedly up at the ceiling. “I _told you_ you were going to fall,” Nick says, smiling down from the side of the bed, and Louis smiles back, unable to help it.

“I meant to do that,” he says, wincing. “Felt like sitting on the floor.”

“ _Sure_ you did,” Nick says, getting up and moving to help disentangle Louis from the chair. He reaches down to help pull Louis up, only for Louis to tug him down next to him. They end up side by side, facing each other. Nick’s legs laid awkwardly over Louis’ hip.

“ _Oof_ ,” Nick says. “What the hell was that for?”

“For laughing.”

Nick rolls his eyes. “Like _you_ wouldn’t have laughed,” he says, scrunching his nose. His face is really rather close to Louis’ face. It’s the closest to Louis’ face that it’s ever been. Nick’s got some rather impressive eyelashes. Louis feels a bit like part of his brain is imploding.

“Hey, Louis,” Nick says softly, eyes raking over Louis’ face. “I-”

“ _Boys_!” Eileen’s voice chimes from downstairs. “Grimmy! I hope you boys are ready, people will be arriving soon!” Nick sighs, rolling over onto his back, legs still awkwardly thrown over Louis’.

“I guess we have to get up,” Nick says, pushing himself upright. “Come on. We’ve got to look _respectful_.”

Louis lays back and takes a deep breath, shaking himself out of whatever weird daze he’d been in before getting up.

“I’m going to go change,” Nick says, grabbing the bags full of clothes Louis had helped him pick out earlier. “You can, uh, just stay here I guess.”

“Fine,” Louis huffs, and immediately throws himself onto Nick’s bed. Nick just rolls his eyes and goes off to get changed in the bathroom. Louis pulls his phone out of his pocket and feels a pang of _something_ when he sees it’s well past the time he was meant to spend with Nick.

There are a couple texts from Zayn. “ _so did you do it_ ” and “ _aha im looking forward to taking your dads car to the concert :)”_ when Louis hadn’t responded. Louis quickly snaps a picture of himself in Nick’s room, flipping off the camera, and sends it to Zayn. The reply comes instantaneously, which is strange for Zayn.

“ _jesus lou i said be civil with him not fuck him”_

Louis gapes down at the phone. “ _we’re just hanging out asshole ! like you said !”_ he sends back quickly. “ _so you better be ready to do all my english coursework. i hope you’ve read jane eyre”_

Before he gets Zayn’s response, Nick is back. He spreads his arms and does a twirl, showing off his new clothes. “It’s good, huh?” he says, grinning and straightening his shirt.

“Only because I helped,” Louis says. “You’d be nowhere without me. You’d be in _cheetah print_.”

“I maintain that that shirt was _perfectly_ fine,” Nick sniffs, before nodding his head towards the door. “Let’s get going. I’m _starving_.”

Louis forces Nick to show him where the bathroom is before they head down to the party, quickly fixing his hair with Nick’s brush and one of his seven billion hair products. “See,” Louis says, fiddling with his fringe. “I was already dressed for this occasion. _Business casual_.”

“Whatever you say,” Nick says, grinning. “Hurry it up, will you? My mum doesn’t care how nice your hair looks.”

“Your mum loves me unconditionally,” Louis says, and lets Nick lead him out of the bathroom.

The dinner party really isn’t as big a deal as Eileen had made it out to be, just Nick’s family and a few of Nick’s dad’s coworkers. But Nick’s dad’s boss is also among the guests, so before they sit down Eileen drags Nick (and therefore Louis) off to the side to make sure Nick doesn’t say anything incriminating. Louis stands behind Nick the entire time, one hand muffling his giggles and the other still held by Nick.

Louis doesn’t know what Eileen was worried about, though, because as soon as the dinner begins Nick is on a charm offensive. He was the center of attention almost immediately, telling entertaining stories and joking good-naturedly with his dad’s coworkers. No one really paid attention to Louis, who spent half the time talking with Liv, who had insisted on sitting next to him, and trying not to stare too obviously at Nick.

He can feel his phone vibrating in his pocket, no doubt texts from Zayn about their bet, but Louis’ too focused on the apparent return of his giant, disgusting crush on Nick to bother answering. Louis had thought that whatever weird obsession he’d had with Nick when they were kids was 1. not real and 2. completely replaced by the intense hatred he felt for him, but the stupid feeling in his stomach is telling him otherwise.

Maybe he had just repressed the memory of it, the feeling. Like his body had decided that liking Nick was bad for his health and overall wellbeing. Maybe liking Nick Grimshaw is like one of those diseases that you get that never goes away, just flares up every now and again. Maybe liking Nick Grimshaw is like herpes.

“ _Why_ are you looking at Uncle Grimmy like that?” Liv asks.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Louis says indignantly.

Liv wrinkles her nose. “You’re _staring_. It’s _weird._ ”

“You’re weird,” Louis says, but it’s weak. There’s a burst of raucous laughter then, and Louis turns back to see Nick gesturing wildly, food flying everywhere as he tells some ridiculous story. He feels his face go a bit dopey at the sight and looks away. He makes a stupid face at Liv to get rid of the look, and Liv gives him one right back.

“You’re a child,” Nick says, leaning over to look at Liv on the other side of Louis during their intense staredown.

“I thought I was a mum,” Louis says, turning back to face Nick. Nick’s doing the thing where his face is super close to Louis’ again, and it’s distracting and rude.

“You’re both,” Nicks says, popping a bit of chicken in his mouth. “You’re a mystery and an enigma, Louis Tomlinson.”

“And don’t you forget it,” Louis says. “I’m mysterious. It’s _alluring_.”

“If that’s what you want to tell yourself,” Nick hums, and has to duck a flying bit of carrot from Louis’ plate.

Dinner after that is mostly uneventful. Nick and Louis manage to not flick food at each other too often, and Liv is the only one who notices, giggling into her hands. Louis is introduced to Pete for the first time and manages not to completely make an ass of himself, though he actively avoids thinking about why it’s so important that he make a good impression on Nick’s dad.

Pete, luckily, doesn’t talk to him much, but Eileen asks a million questions, about his schooling and about his family and friends. Louis ends up pulling his phone out and passing around a picture of the baby twins, all these adults he barely knows cooing at his brother and sister. Nick demands to see every picture he has of them.

“Ernest and Doris?” he asks, passing Louis’ phone back. “Bit old fashioned.”

Louis shrugs. “My mum likes those sort of names. My two oldest sisters are named Charlotte and Felicite.”

“Ooh, _Felicite_ ,” Nick says. “And then there’s you, Lewis.”

“My name is elegant and unique,” Louis says. “ _Nicholas_.”

Nick scrunches his nose. “Why won’t you call me Grimmy like everyone else?”

“Maybe I’m just not like anyone else,” Louis says, before standing up to offer his help to Eileen where she’s passing out their dessert.

After dinner, the adults move into the Grimshaw’s sitting room for alcohol and boring conversation, so Nick and Louis slip away, waving guiltily at Liv, forced to sit with her mother to stay out of trouble, and make their way out into Nick’s back garden.

“So, was I respectful enough?” Nick says, shivering in the cold. They sit down on the porch, huddled a bit close. Louis doesn’t know why they didn’t just go back up to Nick’s room.

“I suppose,” Louis sniffs, wrapping his arms around his knees. “Doesn’t matter though, your mum still likes me better.”

Nick sighs. “I wish I could say you’re wrong,” he says, and Louis giggles, hiding his face in his knees. “You know she’s going to ask about you like, every day from now on.”

“Well, I am pretty unforgettable,” Louis says. His phone suddenly weighs a thousand tons in his pocket, heavy with all the unanswered texts from Zayn. He’s won their bet twice over, and yet he’s still here.

“You’re just going to have to come over all the time, now,” Nick says, a little awkwardly. Louis nods.

“Uh, yeah,” he says, looking away from Nick.

“Liv will want to see you again, as well,” Nick says, coughing a little. There’s a pause, and then he groans, pushing his face into his hands. “I can’t do this anymore,” Nick says, voice muffled.

Louis lifts his head up, looking over with a questioning look. “What are you on about?”

“ _Argh_ ,” Nick says. “There was a counter-bet.”

“A _what_?” Louis feels dread pooling in his stomach. “What are you talking about?”

Nick drops his hands, looking miserably over at Louis. “Harry told me about your bet,” he says. “He felt bad that he told you where I work, and you know he can’t keep secrets to save his life. He told me about your bet with Zayn.”

“What?” Louis says weakly, feeling his cheeks heat up. “You’re shitting me.”

“No,” Nick says, running his hand through his quiff. “No, Harry told me, and at first I was mad and then I was like, well, why not take this opportunity to get you back for all the times you messed with me? And I was just going to like, try and piss you off so you lost the bet, but then _Harry_ -”

“I can’t believe Harry _told you_ ,” Louis groans, pushing his face back into his knees.

“Then Harry suggested like, a counter-bet. Like, he bet that you _wouldn’t_ win the bet. And I don’t know, it seemed like a good idea at the time?”

“So you bet that I _would_ win?” Louis says, looking up. His cheeks feel hot and uncomfortable, and he knows he’s probably redder than anything.

“Well, Harry said that you wouldn’t last five hours, so I said that I bet I could make you stay for eight. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Nick runs a hand through his hair again, thoroughly fucking it up. “But now it’s just a bit over eight hours and I won, and I still.” He pauses, biting his lip. “I don’t want you to leave.”

Louis doesn’t say anything, just buries his face back into his knees, mortified. He’s going to _kill_ Harry. He’s going to kill him dead. “What’d you bet?” Louis says.

“Free reign of my closet,” Nick says after a moment. “Like, he’d get to pick out a bunch of stuff to keep.”

“And what did Harry bet?”

“His Arctic Monkeys tickets,” Nick says, huffing out a laugh. “So I guess I’m going to that, now.”

Louis hums, and doesn’t say anything. They sit in awkward silence for over a minute. “So, uh,” Louis says. “Should I go?”

There’s another pause, and Nick shakes his head. “Didn’t I just say? I don’t want you to leave.”

Louis snorts. “Well, I’m going to have to leave _eventually_.”

“I _know that_ ,” Nick says, and then turns to face Louis, face determined. “Why didn’t you leave?”

Louis freezes. “What?” he asks.

“Once you won your bet,” Nick says. “I didn’t really do anything to keep you here. You just stayed. Why?”

Louis swallows. “Uh, I didn’t.” He stops, biting the inside of his cheek. He might as well tell the truth, seeing as there’s no longer any point in lying. “I didn’t really notice?”

“You didn’t _notice_?” Nick sputters.

“Yeah,” Louis says, fidgeting uncomfortably. “Like, after a while I just stopped checking the time? Zayn texted me before dinner, but I,” he gulps, “I guess I didn’t want to leave either?”

“Really?” Nick says, voice oddly high pitched, and Louis looks over at him. His cheeks are a little pink, and Louis remembers how they were before up in Nick’s room, how close they were.

“Uh, yeah,” Louis says, reaching to scratch the back of his head. His heart is pounding like crazy in his ears and he wonders, nonsensically, if Nick could hear it. “I was having fun, I guess.”

“Oh,” Nick says, cheeks getting darker. “I had fun too.”

They pause again, neither of them looking the other in the eye. “Cool,” Louis says.

Nick laughs loudly. “ _Cool_?” he says. “Ten years of hating each other’s guts and we finally managed to get along, and all you say is _cool_?”

“Yeah?”

Nick cackles in response, throwing his head back and accidentally banging it on the wall of his house. “Shit!” he says, rubbing a hand on the back of his head, and Louis snorts. He tries to hold it in, but soon enough he erupts into giggles, covering his mouth with his hands.

Nick glares at him, but is unable to hold back his grin, and soon they’re laughing together. Nick kicks gently at Louis, but Louis just falls over onto his side, still laughing. After a while they calm down a bit, still giggling every now and again. Louis pushes himself up and slumps into Nick’s side. It’s really too cold for them to be sitting outside without coats, but you couldn’t pay Louis to move.

“So, uh,” Nick says. “I guess this means I should tell Harry I won.”

“Zayn knows I won,” Louis says. “He’s got to do my English Lit for a week, and next week I have a report due.” Louis snickers. “Hope he’s prepared.”

“Well, shouldn’t _you_ be hoping he’s prepared? It’s your grade, and all,” Nick says, and leans his head down on top of Louis’. “So,” he says then, trailing off.

“What?” Louis says, distracted. Nick’s hand is resting on the ground next to Louis’ thigh, and Louis can’t help but grab it, playing with the tips of Nick’s fingers.

“I had fun today,” Nick says, “spending time with you-”

Louis rolls his eyes. “I thought we already went over this, Grimshaw.”

“If you would let me _finish_ ,” Nick huffs. “I had fun today, and uh. I’ve recently acquired a couple of tickets to the Arctic Monkeys show next weekend.”

Louis laughed. “Zayn will be so pissed if we go and he doesn’t get his night out with Harry.”

“Well, it looks like next weekend Zayn will be too busy doing your English to go out anyway,” Nick says.

Louis hums, lacing their fingers together. “Has Harry read _Jane Eyre_ , do you know?”

“How would I know?” Nick asks, then he pauses. “But I’m sure he could be persuaded to read it, to help a friend. A friend with a ton of homework and nothing to do over the weekend.”

“I’ll text him, see if he’ll at least watch the movie,” Louis says. “ _Anyway_.”

“About that concert,” Nick says, squeezing Louis’ hand.

“What makes you think I’d want to go to watch one of your dumb indie bands?” Louis asks.

“Right, because you _never_ hear Arctic Monkeys on the radio,” Nick says. “Will you come, or not?”

Louis sighs, lifting Nick’s arm and awkwardly draping it over his own shoulder, fingers still entwined. “I guess,” Louis says. “How much do you want to bet that Zayn will end up snogging Harry’s face off just to stop him from trying to help with my report next weekend?”

“I think I’m done with bets,” Nick says, turning his face into Louis’ hair. “You know what they say, quit while you’re ahead and all that.”

“Right,” Louis says. “Don’t want to jinx it.”

They sit in comfortable silence for a moment, before Nick sighs and makes to get up. “Okay, this is great and all, but it’s fucking freezing out here. Let’s go inside, the adults should be sufficiently buzzed by now, they’ll leave us alone.”

Louis groans, letting Nick tug at his arm but making no move to stand. “Wait,” he says. “We’ve got to do something first.” Nick gives him a questioning look, and Louis digs in his pocket for his phone. He tugs Nick back to sit against him and shoves his face close to Nick’s. When he lifts the phone up in front of them, front camera on, Nick understands.

Louis makes a stupid face, crossing his eyes and making a wide, closed-mouth smile, and in turn Nick makes a show of sticking his tongue out, pointing at Louis. Louis takes the picture and sends it off to Zayn and Harry with the caption _“have fun not going to the arctic monkeys concert tomorrow, assholes !”_

“That’s _so evil_ ,” Nick says, laughing as he reads Louis’ caption, and Louis just shrugs before standing up, pulling Nick up with him.

“That’s what they get for betting against me, _both times_ ,” Louis says. “Now let’s go inside, it’s cold as shit out here and I want some more of your mum’s pie.”

Nick rolls his eyes and lets Louis pull him along. “So are you just never going to leave now?”

“You better get used to me, Grimshaw,” Louis says, moving towards the kitchen. In the distance, Louis hears Liv loudly say “Can I _please_ go hang out with Uncle Grim and Louis now?” and he grins.

“I guess I’m going to have to,” Nick sighs. “This is just my life now.” But then he smiles at Louis, wide and bright, and squeezes Louis’ hand.

Louis thinks he’s going to have to thank Zayn for more than just doing his homework, and squeezes back.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! title's (loosely) from Beyonce's 7/11
> 
> thanks to erin for organizing the ficathon!!! sorry this was so late!!


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